If you ranked American beer meccas in 1999, by one measurement San Diego would have lagged far behind Fogelsville, Pa.

Check the results that year from Great American Beer Festival, an annual Denver event that is widely seen as the nation’s most prestigious brewing competition. Fogelsville — where some of Stroh’s beers were made — won nine medals. San Diego County’s total: Zero.

But ’99 was the last time San Diego left Denver empty-handed. In 2011, county brewers captured 20 medals, more than Missouri (home to Anheuser-Busch), Wisconsin (Miller) and Massachusetts (Sam Adams) combined.

The Great American Beer Festival’s 2012 awards will be announced Saturday. It’s unknown if the county’s hot streak will continue, but this is already clear: San Diego’s reputation as a craft beer center has been bolstered by its past domination of Denver.

“San Diego has been very successful in winning awards,” said Mark Edelson, co-owner of Iron Hill, a chain of brewpubs in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. “And if you win enough medals as a brewery or a region, you gain a reputation for making great beer.”

Beyond impressing the craft cognoscenti, success in Colorado has boosted San Diego’s beer tourism and has the potential to increase craft beer sales beyond already-healthy levels. (A recent statewide survey estimated that this industry generates about $3 billion in economic activity, or about 1.5 percent of California’s total economy.)

The most successful brewers, noted David “Bump” Williams, a Connecticut-based beer industry analyst, market their Great American Beer Festival triumphs with every possible tool, including 140-character come-ons.

“The smart brewers,” Williams noted, “are social media maniacs.”

Still, it’s possible to win awards but fail to win customers, “One year,” said Ken Allen, the retired founder of Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley Brewing Co., “we won the gold medal for our American wheat beer. That very year our sales for that beer were terrible, absolutely terrible.”

Brewers, though, would rather hit the jackpot in Denver than in Las Vegas.

“These awards mean an awful lot,” Williams said. “Now, when people take trips to Southern California, they are not just going to see the Zoo and the Padres and the aquariums, they are going out to see those craft breweries.

“You’re on the map — and that’s a huge thing.”

Unbroken string

Landing on this map required a long trek. After the Denver festival began judging brews in 1983, San Diego brewers went 0-for-11-years. This losing streak ended in 1994, thanks to a strong Belgian ale made by Charles “Skip” Virgilio” at Pacific Beach Brewhouse.

Many handicappers had figured the top award would be captured by a legendary Belgian brewer who, after reviving Hoegaarden wit beer in his native country, had taken his skills to Texas. “I was standing right next to the Pierre Celis team, who were expecting to win that gold,” Virgilio recalled. “They were a bit shocked — as was I.”

For awhile, this upset could have been dismissed as a fluke. Over the following five years, San Diegans left Denver with a paltry two medals. But in 2000, six local breweries combined for eight medals. In 2004, the total rose 10 and Pizza Port Solana Beach and Tomme Arthur were named, respectively, Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year.